Genealogy: Individual Deceased Personnel File gives wartime death info

By Tamie Dehler
The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE October 20, 2007 10:36 pm

— If you have a family member killed in World War II or Korea, requesting the Individual Deceased Personnel File, or IDPF, can give you information about the circumstances of that person’s death in wartime. The IDPF, also called a 293 file, contains the official casualty report, which provides information about the circumstances of the person’s death, and the identification form, which deals with the identification of the person’s remains and may contain explicit and graphic information. The IDPF may also contain information on the next of kin, the funeral, the disposition of the body, and personal effects.
To order an IDPF for a person who was killed in action in the Army, write to U.S. Total Army Personnel Command, ATTN: TAPC-PAO (FOIA), 200 Stovall St., Alexandria, VA 22332-0404. Include the deceased’s name, date of birth, army serial number, unit, and date and place of death, if these are known. The more information you can give, the better. Cite the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C., Sec 552, when making your request.
If you don’t know the army serial number of the person, the following Web sites may be of help. Go to aad.archives.
gov/aad/ to search Army enlistments for World War II and Korea. Click on the war in question, then search the enlistment database using various parameters. If the person is buried overseas in an American military cemetery, go to the American Battle Monuments Commission at www.abmc.gov/home.php and search for the grave and other information, including the serial number. This site contains information on World War I, World War II, and Korea.
To request an IDPF for a Marine, write to Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, Manpower and Reserve Affairs (MRC), 3280 Russell Road, Quantico, VA 22134-5103.

Queries
• I would appreciate information on the children of Charles Edward Galloway and Mary Josephine Norton. Their children were: Josephine, who married a man whose surname was Biggs; Mary Katherine, who also married a man whose surname was Biggs; Adelia Ginger, who married a man whose surname was Watts; Ann, who married a man whose surname was Pair; Eugene “Bud,” who married Wilma Hale; Charles L.; Robert “Bob”; Hugh Curt, who was born December 8, 1915, in Vigo County, Indiana; Paul Joseph, who was born March 28, 1931, in Terre Haute and married Virginia Church; Betty, who married a man whose surname was Ritchie; William; and Gerald. Any help would be appreciated. Contact S. Wheadon, 276 Peachtree Dr., Centerville, UT 84014, e-mail pwheadon@earthlink.net.
• Levi Brady married Ellen Jenkins, February 15, 1858, in Bloomfield, Greene County, Indiana. Their daughter Lillie May Brady married David Butts on December 31, 1887. Their children were: Arthur, Claude, Ira, and Reva Butts. Lillie May Butts died in Clay County, Indiana, and is buried in the Calcutta Cemetery there. Her husband David Butts died in Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, in 1920 and is buried in the Calcutta Cemetery in Clay County. The daughter Reva Butts died in 1905 at the age of 1 year, not long after her mother, and is also buried in Calcutta Cemetery. I know that Levi and Sarah Ellen Brady lived in Clay County, but I can’t find them there. Levi’s Civil War pension does mention that they knew people there. They were associated with the town of Carbon. They also had a son, Sam E. Brady, a brother of Lillie May Brady/Butts. If you have information, contact Teddy at e-mail tdeford45@ comcast.net.